Elwing, Ulmo, and Second Chances in Tolkien

You are witnessing Ulmo bearing Elwing up out of the sea at the moment she is being transformed into the white bird which will fly to safety aboard the ship of her husband, Eärendil. The rush of bubbles from below signals the power of Ulmo lifting her up towards the sky and you can just glimpse the sun through the most transparent part of the water.

Around her throat, Elwing wears the jeweled carcanet known as the Nauglamir, into which is set one of the Silmarils. As is told in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillon, she has received this rich but dubious heirloom via a series of quite complex and terrible sagas, and it is because of her possessing it that she has to flee the sons of Fëanor, casting herself into the sea.

The Silmarils are so fair to look upon that they drive many elves and other beings to madness in this epic tragedy. When Fëanor's sons come after this treasure in Sirion due to their horrid oath, total chaos ensues, with some elves changing sides to aid poor Elwing amid great loss of life. And rather than simply take off this necklace and throw it at her pursuers, Elwing flings herself into the water, perhaps willing to die rather than be parted from the object, or perhaps trusting herself more to the mercy of Ulmo's domain rather than to anyone walking the land of Middle-earth.

Just as things seem to be hopeless, we have one of those "shall-prove-but-mine-instrument" moments in which the powerful Vala of the waters, Ulmo, transforms Elwing into something other than an elf, just as her husband will be transformed out of common life into something that will be percieved in Middle-earth as a kind of star, with both of them escaping the cycles of greed that are ruining life in Beleriand. Eärendil's mission to beg the forgiveness of the Valar for the rebellion of the elves must happen, it seems, and so the couple are rescued from many perils and brought to the Blessed Realm to fulfill their destinies.

Should such loss, sorrow, and drama be caused by the existence of what are, after all, simply a few brilliant stones? Well, we have seen the very same thing in human history surrounding gold, oil, and other materials people have suddenly become obsessed with obtaining and possessing, no matter the cost to kindred or the natural world. What a story Tolkien is telling us! One to muse over again and again with each subsequent read.

My motivation for painting this scene is that it is, for me, a symbol of the possibility of second chances.

Elwing's great-grandfather, Thingol, behaved so atrociously regarding the Nauglamir and the Silmarils that the subsequent fate of his family almost feels like a punishment for his greed. Look at poor, bewildered Elwing running for her life and on the point of drowning with that massive treasure weighing her down in body and spirit.

But Eru appears to have other plans for her. She is granted a second chance to leave behind the worldliness of elf battles over gems and to fly away to help her husband bring this contentious jewel to the Valar. Its fate, and the fate of the couple, will be decided there and Eärendil will not only win the aid of the Ainur in freeing Middle-earth from oppression but will be set to sail its skies as a token of hope for generations to come. What a reversal!

This painting was an absorbing technical challenge. For some years now, I have been enjoying the work of very skilled artists who devote themselves to painting underwater scenes. Some even photograph themselves in swimming pools in an effort to capture the fantastic play of light in water and there are also quite interesting underwater fashion photo shoots which I have studied, thinking they might one day lend themselves to a depiction of this moment in The Silmarillion. I hope the effect is credible.

The very next second, Elwing's life will change forever and for the better as she bursts up through the surface of the sea and becomes a different sort of being with priorities that far surpass the possession of a Silmaril. I find such a thought remarkably hopeful! In the face of catastrophic greed, change is possible.

Thank you for spending a liminal moment with Elwing just as she is being uplifted and transformed in this video short: